Cornell Cooperative Extension of Putnam County

Plant Garlic in October!
Plant garlic in mid-to-late October for harvest next summer. Purchase garlic sold specifically for planting, or buy organic garlic. Commercial, non-organic, supermarket garlic might have been treated to inhibit sprouting, or it may be a soft-necked, non-hardy variety from California (which is where most garlic is grown). Break the garlic head into individual cloves. Keep the largest ones for planting. (Use the small cloves for cooking!) Plant the cloves about 2-3 inches deep and about 6-8 inches apart with the pointed side up, in rows that are about 15 inches apart. Mulch the bed well with straw. This helps protect garlic cloves from winter freezing and thawing, and suppresses weeds in spring.
Try some different varieties to see which you prefer. German Extra Hardy is one of the best rated by New York State gardeners! Interested in rating vegetable varieties? See: http://vegvariety.cce.cornell.edu/

For More information on growling Garlic:
http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scene568b.html

http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/yates/mg10.10.01.htm